Oxnard School District introduces new superintendent

RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Cesar Morales waives at the audience as he is introduced as the Oxnard School District’s new superintendent during the district’s board meeting Wednesday.

Ventura County Star

RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Cesar Morales (middle) laughs with audience members at the Oxnard School District’s meeting Wednesday. Morales is the district’s new superintendent.

Ventura County Star

RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
After being introduced as the new superintendent of the Oxnard School District, Cesar Rosales speaks to the district’s Board of Trustees and the audience during a board meeting Wednesday.

Ventura County Star

RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Outgoing Oxnard School District Superintendent Jeff Chancer (right) embraces Trustee Veronica Robles-Solis at a meeting recognizing Chancer’s service and announcing the new superintendent, Cesar Morales. Chancer is retiring from the office.

Ventura County Star

RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Newly installed Oxnard School District Superintendent Cesar Morales (second from right) stands with his parents, Eloy Morales (from left) and Josefina Morales, as they speak with district Trustee Denis O’Leary. Morales was named as superintendent at the district’s board meeting Wednesday.

Ventura County Star

Cesar Morales will be the new Oxnard School District superintendent effective July 1, succeeding Jeff Chancer, who is retiring after leading the elementary district for two years.

The district school board unanimously approved the appointment of Morales on Wednesday night at its regular meeting after an early closed-session meeting earlier that day.

Morales, 37, will leave his post as assistant superintendent of human resources for the Lawndale School District in Los Angeles County.

His appointment came as the board said goodbye to 36 certificated and classified employees, including 16 teachers; Debra M. Cordes, principal at Harrington Elementary School; and Chancer, who joined other employees in ringing ceremonial retiree bells after a presentation that honored their work.

Board President Ana Del Rio-Barba gave an praise-filled send-off to Chancer, lauding his commitment to the district’s 16,500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

She said he was influential in bringing salad bars to the schools, supporting an enrollment center and advocating for Measure R, a $90 million bond measure that puts the district in a position to receive additional state funding to build and rebuild schools.

Chancer thanked the board “for having confidence and perhaps taking a little bit of a risk by hiring a guy who’s a little off center.”

He also thanked his family for their support, including his wife, Joni; his son Josh and daughter-in-law Mia; and his grandchildren Waylen, 4, and Lily, 2.

“The district is going to change dramatically in the next five years,” he said. “There are going to be three brand-new schools in the district. There’s going to be one-on-one devices for all children. These things are monumental and couldn’t have happened without the leadership of a lot of people and organizations.”

Morales said he was eager to take the reins of the rapidly growing school district.

“The district is trailblazing in its 21st-century learning environment, and I’m excited to be a part of it,” he said.

His first order of business will be to meet with as many staff members, community leaders, parents, teachers and children as possible, he said.

“I want to get acclimated to the culture of our district as soon as possible,” he said.

Morales, who plans to move from Agoura Hills to Oxnard soon, has worked as assistant superintendent, a middle-school counselor, an assistant principal and a principal. He started his career teaching Spanish in the Los Angeles Unified School District and has taught special education.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish literature and his master’s in educational administration from Loyola Marymount University. He attained his doctorate in educational leadership from UCLA.

He said that when he entered education, his dream was to serve in a diverse community and to “one day serve in a farm community.” In 1965, his father, Eloy Morales, picked strawberries in Oxnard, where he still has family members, and he said he felt overwhelmed to serve the community.

In other district news, the board heard from Sgt. Alex Rangel, a spokesman for the Oxnard Police Department, about a proposal to relocate a police storefront office at 211 N Grant Ave., to the former Cesar Chavez Elementary School main office on Juanita Street.

The office would serve Oxnard’s La Colonia area.

The owners of the property housing the office are retiring and plan on renting the space, Rangel said.

The relocated office would be used for regular storefront purposes, he said. But moving the office and its staff — a senior officer, an officer and a community liaison — would enable the department to create a partnership with parents and community groups such as Oxnard-based Mixteco Indigenous Community Organizing Project and First 5 Ventura County.

“We think of this as a community resource center,” he told the board. “We also think this would be a way of building trust within the community.”

Rangel said a storefront near the school would be helpful to residents who are forming a neighborhood council and a neighborhood watch program. It also would provide a center for parent development and citizenship classes as well as space for the department’s Explorer program, which exposes youths age 14 to 20 to careers in law enforcement and public-service activities.

Trustee Denis O’Leary was skeptical. In 1992, the newly opened storefront on Grant Avenue was firebombed. He said he was concerned about the safety of students, especially since the office would be near the school cafeteria.

O’Leary also worried that relocating the storefront could be could be perceived as “militarization of schools.”

He said street lighting in the area was inadequate, and asked Rangel to tell city officials that it is a safety problem.

Rangel said there have been no attacks on the storefront office since 1992, and said a chain-link fence controls entrance to the proposed resource center and storefront office.

Trustee Ernie Morrison said he saw the plan as an opportunity, if not a model for other parts of the city.

“There could be a real focused center of the community,” he said. “And hopefully, people will feel better about police and not think they’re there to hook them up and take them in.”

The board took no action on the item. After the meeting, Rangel said he hoped the board would approve the plan soon.